2009 Stinger503's Video Game Awards

Biggest Game I Didn't Play But Wanted To
Nominees:
Ninja Gaiden II
Red Alert 3
Condemned 2: Bloodshot
Battlefield: Bad Company
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway
Saint's Row 2
Far Cry 2
Guitar Hero: World Tour
Winner: Red Alert 3 - One of my favourite franchises ever gets new life and it's on the 360! How could I not have bought this? Was dislike for EA after they shut down Westwood? Questioning RTS's on consoles? No demo? Who knows...

Worst Demo
Nominees:
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
Tom Clancy's Endwar
Dead Space
Winner: Dead Space - I heard so much hype about this game, I genuinely was interested. Then the demo came out. Sorry but giving me 25 rounds in my pistol and putting me up against a dozen zombies pounding me is bullshit. When I say screw this 7 minutes into the demo, there's a problem.

Worst Game
Nominees:
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
Lost: Via Domus
NHL 2k6
NHL 2k7
Winner: NHL 2k7 & 2k6 - Both of these pieces of ass will rot in video game hell. How dare 2k steal peoples money and then NOT patch the game so it at least works!

Best Music
Nominees:
Rock Band 2
Fallout 3
Mirrors Edge
Grand Theft Auto IV
Winner: Rock Band 2 - The Who, Rush, AC/DC, Kansas, Survivor, and Stephen and the Colberts what more do you need?
Honorable Mention: Grand Theft Auto IV - Having Queen and Ricky Gervais = Awesome


Best Cinematics
Nominees:
Gears of War 2
Mirrors Edge
Grand Theft Auto IV
Turok
Winner: Gears of War 2 - Normally I'm not a fan of cut scenes but for this I loved the story they told, very well done
Honorable Mention: Mirror's Edge - personally not a fan of cell shaded cut scenes but I loved them in Mirror's Edge

Best Voice Acting
Nominees:
Keifer Sutherland & Gary Oldman- Call of Duty: World At War
Liam Neeson- Fallout 3
Michael Hollick-Grand Theft Auto IV
John DiMaggio- Gears of War 2
Winner: Liam Neeson - I thought that Liam Neeson's performance as James, the main characters father, was amazing.

Best Accessory
Nominees:
Rock Band 2 Drums
Rock Band 2 Guitar
Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter
HD-DVD Add-On
Winner: HD-DVD Add-On - Okay I'm lazy, and this device feeds into that laziness. For $40 I got a DVD player, extra USB port and an HD-DVD player. And I don't have to take the game out of the console to put the DVD in.
Too Little To Late: Wireless Headset - I bought one on Friday but never got the chance to test it. So it's in the running for next year.

Best Multiplayer Games

• Best Two-Player One System

Nominees:
Gears of War 2
Call of Duty: World At War
Fable 2
Rock Band 2
Winner: Gears of War 2 - Combine Horde with Co-op with multiplayer bots and you have the best 2 person experience on the Xbox 360

• Best Online

Nominees:
Call of Duty: World At War
Gears of War 2
Fable 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
Winner: Call of Duty: World At War - Not only taking Call of Duty 4's multiplayer experience but adding vehicular fun.
Honorable Mention: Grand Theft Auto IV - Rockstar took a risk at adding multiplayer, but it payed off in one of the best multiplayer experiences in years

• Best Overall
  

Nominees:
Gears of War 2
Call of Duty: World At War
Rock Band 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
Winner: Rock Band 2 - There is no game where I could get my my sister, her boyfriend and my other sister to have so much fun for hours at a time.

Best Xbox Live Arcade Game
Nominees:
Chessmaster Live
Ticket To Ride
Fable 2 Pub Games
Dash Of Destruction
Winner: Ticket To Ride - I was able to get both my sisters and mom to love playing this game. Very addicting and fun.
Too Little Too Late: Braid - bought Braid late last night, so far it's had an intriguing story and gameplay elements

Best Music Game
Nominees:
Guitar Hero II
Guitar Hero III
Rock Band 2
Rock Band: AC/DC Live
Winner: Rock Band 2 - An amazing set list and great multiplayer

Best Racing Game
Nominees:
Test Drive: Unlimited
NASCAR '09
Project Gotham Racing 4
Forza Motorsport 2
Winner: Test Drive: Unlimited
Honorable Mention: NASCAR '09, EA helped correct it's fucktastrophy (trademark, I created that word) from '08 by improving everything

Sports Game
Nominees:
NHL '09
NHL 2k8
NASCAR '09
Smackdown vs. RAW 2007
Winner: NHL '09 - Amazing that not only does it do everything 2k8 does but adds Be A Pro mode, probably the greatest innovation for hockey games in years.

Best RPG
Nominees:
Fallout 3
Fable 2
Winner: Fallout 3 - An amazing story, world and everything made this an easy choice.

Best Action
Nominees:
Grand Theft Auto IV
Mirrors Edge
Winner: Grand Theft Auto IV - the new polished GTA is great with an amazing multiplayer experience to boot! HELICOPTER RACES!

Best Shooter
Nominees:
Call of Duty: World at War
Gears of War 2
Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
Turok
Winner: Gears of War 2 -
Too Little Too Late: Left 4 Dead- Bought it Friday haven't played it yet

Best Level
Nominees:
Gears of War 2 - Intestinal Fortitude
Grand Theft Auto IV - Three Leaf Clover
Fallout 3 - Tranquility Lane
Fable 2 - Tattered Spire
Winner: Fallout 3 - this is the mission that shakes everything up. It's amazing

Best Story
Nominees:
Gears of War 2
Fable 2
Fallout 3
Call of Duty: War at War
Grand Theft Auto IV
Winner: Fallout 3 - The games beginning is one of the greatest all-time and there's a mission near the end that just throws you through the loop!

Best Game
Nominees:
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
Gears of War 2
Fable 2
Call of Duty: World at War
Rock Band 2
Winner: Gears of War 2 - A LOT of people probably disagree with this but I thought that Gears 2's story/Horde/multiplayer combined for the best game this year
Honorable Mention: Fallout 3 - Had a big lead but fell apart at the end with A. Bad Ending B. Not able to continue after last mission C. Level 20 Cap

Prediction for Next Year:
Alan Wake

Looking Back @ 2007

We’re a month away from our 1^st anniversary. And coming up we’re going to be having the Stinger503 Video Game Awards. So I decided I’d look into the awards I gave out last year and how they stood the sands of time.

Best Soundtrack- Halo 3

2008- I think this stands up still. Easily had the best soundtrack

Best Graphics- Bioshock

2008- Again still stands. I played and beat Assassin’s Creed and Bioshock is still better.

Best Demo- (tie) Halo 3 beta, Medal of Honour: Airborne, Boom Boom Rocket

2008- Still stands. Medal of Honour: Airborne especially since the game wasn’t that great.

Most Satisfying Game- (Tie) Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, The Orange Box

2008- Still stands I’ve played at least 20+ hours in each of these games.

Best 360 Gear- (Tie) Text Messenger & Messenger Bag

2008- Still carry my 360 in that bag and the messenger is so useful for doing messages

Best Multiplayer Game- Halo 3

2008- I was completely right and just look at the most played online game. Not Gears 2 but Halo 3. Enough said

Best Arcade Game- Boom Boom Rocket

2008- Still true. Played it recently in fact.

Best Atmosphere- Bioshock

2008- Still true in my opinion, which is why I’m excited for the next installment.

Best Story- Call of Duty 4

2008- Still true it was the most memorable

Best Game- Halo 3

2008- See Multiplayer

Prediction for next year- Grand Theft Auto IV

2008- We’ll see January 26 2009

Looking Back at 2007/Stinger503's Game Awards

Well I'm thinking up the awards as I type this, so here is the 2007 Stinger503 Game Awards.
*Remember any nominations and winners can include demos and only includes games/demos I've played (so Assassin's Creed isn't qualified), here we go...

Bad Awards

Worst Game
Winner- Hour Of Victory(demo)
Explanation: Honestly playing the demo was all I needed, now that I have Gamespot and 25,000 other people who agreed with me, I can feel comfortable knowing that I'm smart for not buying this game just so I can give it this award.

Worst Demo
Winner- (Tie) Burnout: Paradise and Hour of Victory (edit: also Fusion Frenzy 2)
Explanation: Really want to know why? Well, I'm not buying Burnout because of it's demo, that's why. When I'm giving the choice of continuing to play or not and I choose HELL NO! Then you've made a terrible demo good sir.

Worst Download
Winner- Call Of Duty 4 beta
Explanation: It killed my Xbox. Don't give me that "It's the hardware, not the game" BS! My Xbox 360 survived over two years and survived it all! Oblivion, Halo 3 beta, everything! And I download this darn beta for over a day and a half! Killing my xbox two WEEKS from Halo 3 missing the launch! That's inexcusable!

Worst Backwards Compatible Game
Winner- Return To Castle Wolfenstein
Explanation: THEY KILLED THIS GAME! I excitedly put it in my Xbox 360 and started playing and couldn't get past the 1 level without the framerate dying and getting me killed! Worst bc game since 007 Nightfire and it's impossible to play flying level!

Tech. Awards

Best Soundtrack
Winner- Halo 3

Best Graphics
Winner- Bioshock

Best Download
Winner- (tie) Halo 3 beta, everything for Oblivion

Best Backwards Compatible Game
Winner- NASCAR Thunder 2003

Best Demo
Winner- (tie) Halo 3 beta, Medal Of Honour: Airborne, Boom Boom Rocket

Best Game... to play with your girlfriend?
Winner- The Orange Box
Explanation: Before I went back to college after winter break. My girlfriend loved watching me play Half-Life 2 to no end! It was strange, she even was disappointed when I said I beat the end of it without her. I even got her to play Portal. (P.S. I'm saving HL2 Ep.2 for when I see her next ;) )

Most Satisfying Game:
Winner- (Tie) Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, The Orange Box

Major Awards

Best 360 Gear
Nominees:

• Text Messenger
• Racing Wheel
• Messenger Bag
• Halo 3 Points Card
• Halo 3 Xbox 360
• Black Xbox 360 & Gear

Winner- (Tie) Text Messenger & Messenger Bag
Explanation: Typing in my Bio after the update became a whole lot easier and I finally have something that I can literally fit all of my 360 gear into!

Best Character
Nominees:

• Portal- Ai
• Halo 3- Master Chief/Arbiter
• Mass Effect- Shepard & Crew
• Bioshock-The Doctor

Winner- (Tie) Halo 3 and Mass Effect
Explanation: Definantly a tie here, I mean the M.C. and Arbiter are so badass and then you have Garrus, Shepard, etc. So it's a toss up

Best Multiplayer Game:
Call of Duty 4
Halo 3
Winner- Halo 3
Explanation: There aren't any nominees here, it was basically a showdown between these two bahemoths and it went to the 12th round. Halo 3 is superb and COD4 is too. However the only thing that brings COD4 down is it's lack of guests! The thing that's great about the Halo series is that you and some friends can play Halo 3 for hours against other people as a team. This isn't possible with COD4. So basically after COD4's multiplayer challenges, what else is there? Not really any ranking system. Halo 3 has it's achievements and ranking system and guest ability, meaning I will be playing Halo 3 far longer than COD4.

Best Voice-Overs
Nominees:

• Halo 3
• The Orange Box
• Mass Effect
• Call Of Duty

Winner: Mass Effect
Explanation: Orange Box is a close 2nd here because of Portal and it's turrets and the AI, because the AI had to basically make the story. But Mass Effect was just so well done.

Best Arcade Game
Nominees:

• Pac Man: Championship Edition
• Boom Boom Rocket
• Aegis Wing
• Switchball

Winner- Boom Boom Rocket
Explanation: As much as I'd love to give this to Pac Man or Switchball, really Boom Boom Rocket is magnificent and it's visualizer feature alone is worth 800 Microsoft Pts.

Best Atmosphere
Nominees:

• Bioshock
• Call Of Duty 4
• Halo 3
• The Orange Box

Winner- Bioshock
Explanation: Orange Box just missed out with Portal and Half-Life 2 but Bioshock really deserves kudos for this. Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 already had their "worlds" set-up so they aren't really spectacular with their atmosphere's, but Bioshock had to create a world in the 1950s...underwater...with crazy people. And that's why they get the award.

Best Story
Nominees:

• The Orange Box
• Call Of Duty 4
• Bioshock
• Mass Effect

Winner- Call of Duty 4
Explanation: The Orange Box really just missed out on this with it's Half-Life 2(which I am now a fan of!) and Portal 1, 2 punch. But with COD4's 2 levels of just story telling (you don't actually do anything you just experience it) is amazing! This is what I love in games, they could have just taken the easy way out like Halo does at times but they made it into an experience which I love. Mass Effect and Bioshock fall short because they are just too short, which suprises me about Mass Effect because it's an RPG.

Best Game
Nominees:

• Call Of Duty 4
• Halo 3
• Bioshock
• The Orange Box

Winner- Halo 3
Explanation: Halo 3 simply raised the bar to where the others couldn't reach, Forge, unstoppable multiplayer, great single player (not to mention 4 player online/2 offline), great music, video replays, etc. Those of you who don't like it... KISS MY @$$

Prediction for next year-
Best Game- Grand Theft Auto IV